Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-9, MSG*

Our job is to bless. And we can only do this in the power of the Holy Spirit, as He enables us to follow Jesus’ example and commit our lives to the God who judges justly.

No victim mentality or martyred airs—living confident in God, with our hope securely in Him.

Peter says then people will wonder how we can carry on so well in life’s stress. When they ask the reason for our hope, we can gently tell them how Jesus sustains us.

Father, please help me fix my heart on You, live confident in You, and live to be a blessing.

I love the way John Waller articulates the choice between blessing and cursing in his song, “The Blessing.”

*The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson